Title: The 5th Wave Author: Rick Yancey # of Pages: 480 (hardback) Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Fantasy Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ Synopsis:After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one. Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up. Review: And I had such high hopes for this book!
The 5th Wave is way to disorganized with the constant POV switching and flash backs. The romance between characters seems rushed, cliché, and took away from the quality of the book. And Yancey defiantly could have created a more unique concept for the aliens.
Below are the notes I took while reading The 5th Wave.
Do the aliens speak English? The message they sent out was in English (see page 31). And if they're so smart, why would they talk like a lowly human?
Lizbeth has got it all backwards in this conversation:
"'There's so much I wanted to do,' Lizbeth said, 'I've never even...You know...What about you?'
'About "you know"?'
'Oh I know you haven't "you know"...I'm talking about our lives, Cassie! Jesus, this could be the end of the freakin' world, and all you want to do is talk about sex!'" (Yancey 32).
She's the one who brought up the sex topic after all. Since we're on the topic of sex, it seems like a good time to bring up another quote for discussion:
"'What makes you think I'm a virgin?' I asked.
'You wouldn't have hit me if you weren't'" (65).
This quote comes from a conversation between Crisco and Cassie after Crisco is hit in the nose by Cassie when he suggested that they should have sex. Crisco's description is incredibly undesirable, and I think more than one woman would have hit him if he tried to force them to do it with him, virgin or not. Just because you've had sex before doesn't me you're going to be fine with have sex with anyone.
It seems that the layout consists of a lot of flashbacks, which reminds me of If I Stay. The difference is that If I Stay needed to have flashbacks or the story would be pretty boring. But The 5th Wave? There's plenty of story worthy material in the situation Cassie is currently in. If the flashbacks are necessary for the development, the story should have started in with the flashbacks!
And then I reached Part 2: Wonderland. At first, I was extremely confused. Was there suddenly a time skip? No. There was a POV switch.
Well, there goes a star.
What I don't understand is why Dr. Pam made Ben kill off his companion. AND even more so, I don't understand why he was so quick to kill him. What if they found a way to remove the infestation later?
Moving on to Part 3 of the book, which holds yet ANOTHER surprise! We have switched to third person, from the silencer's point-of-view! It really isn't looking good for this book. But another question arose from reading part 3; was part 1 suppose to be a diary entry? It was. So we have three modes of telling this story; first person (part 2), first person through diary (part 1), and third person (part 3).
Although this book is turning out to be below my expectations by the end of part 3, I do applaud Yancey for the use of the word "fangirly."
In part 4, anyone can sense that Evan and Cassie are going to have a relationship. But this immediate closeness isn't the kind of romance I was hoping for. And it escalated too quickly; I'm not feeling the chemistry between the two of them.
And in part 5, we find ourselves with yet another POV: Sammy in third person. The POV changes to come one completely different in part 6 (Zombie). But it seems like he's the same person as Ben? It is. And my guess is that Private Nugget is Sammy. I'm not feeling the chemistry between Ben and Ringer either.
Part 7 is from Cassie's POV again, and my suspicions brought into the story: Could this guy be the Silencer in part 3? This part had a creepy-horror movie like feel.
Part 8, 10, and 12 are from Ben's POV. Part 9, 11, and 13 is from Cassie's.
It's SO convenient that Cassie is some kind of crazy master at karate. She called her past self a typical teenage girl, but, if you go by feminine stereotypes, most girls aren't a master at karate. Some experience? Sure. But to the point where karate lessons are boring? No.
Wait, did Evan die? I guess that's what the other books are for. But I'm really hoping there won't be a love triangle; I mean, Ben doesn't even KNOW her. At least Evan and Cassie have spent time together for a while like how Ben has spent time with Ringer. The pairing is obvious.
Don't be fooled by the cover! I don't recommend this book!
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